Acoustic pickup questions

After installing and playing around with piezo-types (under bridge and stick-ons), I'm moving to sound hole magnetic pups -- mostly to get away from the piezo quack. A carefully installed soundhole pup should not damage or mark your guitar. The Fishman rare earth humbucker I bought recently seems to have a rather nice response and tone. This particular version has a treble boost switch that permits one to open up the top end a little bit -- useful increased clarity for fingerstyle. There are a number of new soundhole pups that also incorporate acoustic mics in addition to the magnetic section -- Fishman, Baggs ...

All that said, nothing is so quick and easy as a stick-on piezo for temporary work. If you go this route, why not stick it on the inside of the top so as not to mar or leave residue on a the unfinished/unprotected top. You might also try sticking it on the bridge.

-Greg

Thanks, Greg. I ended up buying a mag soundhole pickup (Rio Grande Bone). The top end seems fine, and no perceptable feedback. It's not exactly the unaltered sound through the speakers, but it's close.

I have heard some good things about the LR Baggs M1. It can be used w/o damaging the guitar.

George

First time out the Bone worked fine. I used it again tonight, and it stunk... feedback galore. Identical equipment (Martin D-15, Fender Twin Reverb). Changing the amp placement didn't help a whit. At first I thought I might be picking up the other guitarist's amp, as the placement of his was different... but powering his down, I still had tons of feedback. Changing the ground on the amp didn't help.

Any thoughts?

Same venue? Could be the room has a strong resonance that happens to reinforce the feedback. You might try a soundhole cover, as this will shift the low freq resonance of your guitar. Not sure if anyone makes a partial that would work with the Tonebone, but you may be able to snip-to-fit a full sized version to accommodate the pup.

Is it possible the Tonebone has sustained some minor damage -- maybe dropped and the guts become loosened? This would make it microphonic.

If you have or are willing to invest in an equalizer -- especially a parametric, this may come in handy for fighting feedback problems, plus tailoring your tone.

-Greg

Thanks, Gnease - I'll pick up a parametric today.

It was the same venue, and I didn't notice any changes in it - no new wall coverings or furniture or anything like that.

Yes, an EQ will help you eliminate frequencies that feedback. Get at least a 31-band.

Were you using a floor monitor? It is real easy for an acoustic to feedback from the monitor. Gotta keep it down.

Kinda surprised you're playing your acoustic through a Twin. Why don't you go straight into the board?

31-band would be for a graphic EQ. A parametric EQ will do the trick with small number of sections, as it will have adjustable frequency, Q (bandwidth) and gain.

-Greg

I didn't use a floor monitor - wasn't needed given the venue size.

My local music store didn't stock parametric EQs, and several websites were out of stock. I'll hit a bigger store this weekend.

If that doesn't work, I'm gonna think about switching guitars to something I could have drilled.... not crazy about that option though.

Noteboat-

Info picked up this weekend on feedback remediation: Dean Markley or somebody similar makes a two piece soundhole cover especially for acoustics with soundhole pups. I believe it's sold under the name Wings.. Secondly, there are some self-adjusting feedback eliminators on the market - Alesis or Behringer or the like sells them. One uses the Sharc DSP chip and uses moniker Sharc in the product name.

-Greg

Thanks Greg!

I've looked at the Dean Markley soundhole cover... it looked kind of cheezy to me, and I'd have to snip it to fit the shape of the bone... which would make it non-returnable if it didn't work, so I haven't opted to go that route.

I just looked at the specs on the Behringer Sharc, and it looks pretty cool. I won't be at the same venue for a couple weeks, so I'll order one and let you know how it works.

Tom

I think I found the hum today.... darndest thing, too. I pulled the chassis out of the amp with the thought that I'd use contact cleaner on all the electrical connections, and there, wedged underneath the edge of the power supply.... was an old guitar pick. Apparently it was enough to affect the grounding, since the power supply only grounds to the chassis frame through the four mounting screws. Removed pick, tightened screws, and voila. I've had that amp since 1977 or so; who knows when the pick got inside the case... but it apparently migrated into trouble position in the past few weeks!

I sure do appreciate all your help and suggestions, folks!

Maybe it wasn't the pick that caused the trouble. It could havelost connection on its own and it was the act of pulling it out and putting it back in that fixed the connection.

I suppose that's true. At any rate, now that I've had the whole thing apart, cleaned all the contacts, tighted down all the nuts and bolts... the amp sounds as sweet as ever.